


if only in my dreams

by celaenos



Category: DC Cinematic Universe, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/F, Holidays, absolute fluff nonsense, all i want for christmas is this ficathon, but also cause i'm ME there's angst wrt Lena, pretty much everyone shows up, seriously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 07:39:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8969983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celaenos/pseuds/celaenos
Summary: And oh Lena would give almost anything to have someone look at her like that. When Kara turns around, the remains of it directed at Lena, her knees shake, just a little. (Or, Lena Luthor comes over for Danvers Christmas dinner and karaoke.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> written for [All I Want For Christmas Is This Ficathon](http://ratherembarrassing.tumblr.com/post/154745824823/ratherembarrassing-a-peripherally-xmas-related)
> 
> also, picture kara and winn's duet as [laura benanti and her (now) ex hubby steven pasquale singing it this way](http://banrions.tumblr.com/post/154830561872/laura-benanti-and-steven-pasquale-silent-night) and your lives will be infinitely better, i promise you.

Alex Danvers bursts into her office.

Lena can’t contain her surprise, and from the look on Alex’s face, she isn’t expected to. Jess apologizes a mile a minute from behind Agent Danvers. _She has a gun!_ Is all that Lena catches before quickly waving her off with a reassuring smile. “It’s alright Jess, thank you.” She turns her attention to Agent Danvers; she’s dressed casually, not a work matter then? Unless it’s too urgent, it is Christmas Eve after all. Lena was just about to force Jess to go home. Every other employee that wants the day off left hours ago. “What can I do for you Agent Danvers?” Lena asks, sitting back in her chair and studying her.

Agent Danvers sighs and shifts rather uncomfortably. She begins pacing in front of Lena’s desk while she talks. “Well, you could answer your phone, for one,” she chastises. It comes out with such familiar resigned exasperation, that Lena nearly chokes when her mind goes straight to Lex, Big Brothering her till the end.

“Excuse me?” Lena snaps.

“Kara’s called you like, fifty-million times,” Alex rolls her eyes. “And frankly, she’s driving me _crazy._ But, my mother is driving me even _more_ crazy. And I’m dealing with kind of a lot, since she’s going to meet my girlfriend for the first time tonight,” her eyes grow wide with panic at this, but she plows on anyway. “So, I _really_ need Kara’s head in the game, not distracted by thinking that you might be dead, or sad, or whatever. So I told her that I’d come and make sure you were ‘still alive’ and invite you to dinner. Also I’m supposed get more sugar so that she can bake even more cookies than we already _have,_ which is, ridiculous.” Alex lets out a large breath, having said this all in a matter of seconds. “So,” she plants her feet and sets her hands on her hips, staring down at Lena. “You’re alive,” she states, obviously. “Got any sugar in this joint?”

Lena can’t quite help the smirk that etches out onto her lips. “As a matter of fact…”

Agent Danvers laughs, looking genuinely amused and relaxed for the first time since they’ve met. It’s a good look on her. “You’re kidding me right? You’ve seriously got sugar here?”

Lena shrugs and rises, motioning for Agent Danvers to follow. “L-Corp uses quite a few substances commonly found in a kitchen. Haven’t you ever taken a chemistry class Agent Danvers?”

“Alex, please,” she insists. “And I’ll have you know that before I joined the FBI, I was going to medical school. And I’m a Bio-Engineer.”

Lena turns around, impressed. “I’ve got an engineering degree myself, we should compare notes sometime.”

“Sure,” Alex shrugs casually, but looks sincere. Her face scrunches up, very reminiscent of Kara. It’s easy to see now that she’s paying attention, the obvious markers that indicate they grew up with each other. Lena wonders how many of her own mannerisms mirror Lex’s. It’s not a thought that she lets herself dwell on.

“That’ll be a great distraction for dinner,” Alex adds, a relieved smile growing on her face.

“About that, I don’t think—”

“Do you have other plans for Christmas Eve?” Alex asks, as though she already knows the answer. Lena glares at her and Alex’s expression softens a bit. It’s aggravating, and only further deepens Lena’s glare.

“I don’t need anyone’s pity,” she snaps. “Here’s your sugar,” she thrusts the bag into Alex’s hands and brushes past her and out of the lab. “Tell Kara thank you, but I’ll see her after the holidays,” she calls over her shoulder.

“Yeah, that’s not really gonna work for me,” Alex says as she follows Lena back upstairs. “Kara will just yell at me, and it’ll become a whole other Thing. Besides, it’s not pity. You’re Kara’s friend,” Alex pauses, studying Lena for a moment. She shifts underneath Alex’s gaze, wanting to snap and order her to leave. She fights down the urge. “And… I might not totally trust you,” Alex says carefully. It’s almost a relief to have the words out there between them. It’s obvious. And Lena’s very used to the feeling, it’s insulting to have Alex pretend otherwise. “But, Kara does. And all you’ve done so far is prove that you’re nothing like your brother. Or your mother. So, I can give you the benefit of the doubt,” Alex shrugs. “So long as you know that I’ll totally throw you into a cell where no one will ever find you without a second thought if you hurt my sister in any way.”

She very much means what she says. Despite the fact that she’s just been threatened, Lena finds herself smiling at the other Danvers sister. It’s nice, to see that kind of sibling loyalty. Once upon a time, Lex threatened people for her like this.

Lena swallows _that_ thought down as quickly as possible. Apparently the holiday is making her far too sentimental.

“While I appreciate the offer, I don’t think it would be appropriate or particularly fun for me to crash your family dinner on a holiday.”

Alex waves her off with the hand not holding a bag of sugar. “We’re not big Christmas people. It was my dad’s favorite holiday,” her jaw tightens, and Lena watches her fiddle with the bag of sugar, not looking up. “We mostly just do dinner and a few presents now and call it a day. My mom’s probably the least Jewish person that I’ve ever met, but technically, she _is,_ and Kara’s never liked Christmas much,” Alex laughs, a little bitterly, and finally meets Lena’s eyes. “You’re not crashing anything sacred, I promise. It’s just dinner.” Her eyes flicker around the empty office and then land back on Lena. “Beats sitting here alone and working all night.”

“I told you, I don’t need your—”

“Pity. Yeah, yeah. Trust me, you don’t have it.”

The admission should sting. Instead, it makes Lena relax for the first time since Alex walked through her door. “I don’t have anything to bring. Presents or—”

“You have the sugar,” Alex holds it up with a smirk. “That’s good enough for me. Trust me, it’ll be good enough for Kara too.”

Every fiber of her being is screaming _no_ as loud as it can. But Lena gathers her coat and purse, and says, “Okay,” before following Alex Danvers out the door.

…

…

Their walk is mostly silent. It’s shorter than Lena expected, but enough time for her to get nervous and regret saying yes. Enough time for her to think up at least seven plausible excuses and then not voice a single one of them. They pause once they reach Kara’s building and Alex’s hand is suddenly on Lena’s arm. They both stare down at it in surprise before Alex very slowly pulls it away.

“Right, so…” she’s fidgeting again. It’s very odd, to see this woman look so unsure and awkward. It’s not the image of her that Lena had built up in her head. Though, she doesn’t actually _know_ Alex Danvers beyond a few terse encounters, so perhaps that’s not fair. “I mentioned that my girlfriend is coming over,” she pauses, waiting until Lena nods in acknowledgment. “Right… so it’s… I mean we’re very…” Alex sighs in frustration. “It’s a very _new_ thing for me.”

“Oh,” Lena finally understands. “I don’t care,” she says. Alex’s eyes snap up in anger and Lena sighs. “I’m not being insensitive,” she adds. A deep glare forms onto Alex’s face and Lena rolls her eyes. “I’m a lesbian Alex,” she states pointedly. “It’s not a secret. It the second most thing that comes up when you google me after a million articles about my adoption by the Luthors.”

“Oh,” Alex blinks in surprise and stares at Lena. “Oh,” she repeats. “Well… okay. I’m just… sorry, I’m not…” she laughs at herself. “I didn’t know. That I was,” she explains. “Not till a little bit ago. Sorry, I’m making this very weird. I’ve been doing a lot of that recently.”

Lena smirks, things are beginning to make quite a bit more sense to her now. “Nothing to apologize for,” she assures Alex.

“Right, well… my mom is annoying no matter what. And she’s been determined to be _extra_ supportive, and there’s a chance that everything is going to get very embarrassing and awkward. Between her and Kara, I don’t really stand a chance. So, mostly I just wanted to warn you and apologize in advance.”

“Okay.”

Alex nods. “Okay.”

They stand there, outside Kara’s front door for another beat. “Are we going in?” Lena asks.

“Right, yeah,” Alex opens the door and shuffles them inside.

“Lena!” Kara yells out happily, and then, Lena is pulled into a tight hug, and before she can even properly register it happening, Kara pulls back and grins at her. “You came!”

“Thank you for inviting me,” Lena says, falling back on her manners. “I brought sugar,” she holds it up and feels so out of place and awkward, that the urge to run away is overwhelming. But Kara beams at the sight of it, and honest to god squeals with delight.

“Oh good, I’m making cookies,” she accepts the sugar and ushers Lena further inside. Alex has already disappeared, a glass of wine in her hand, talking to that boy from CatCo—Matt? Mark? she doesn’t honestly care enough to remember—and the tech analyst, Winn something. James Olsen is talking to a woman who must be Alex and Kara’s mother, and Lena recognizes the other man from the news. The Martian. She blinks in surprise but doesn’t say anything.

“Hello,” Eliza Danvers extracts herself from the conversation and makes her way over to Lena and Kara. “I’m Eliza,” she sticks out her hand and smiles, so warmly it’s almost unnerving. Lena accepts her hand, aware of Kara’s watchful eye and forces a smile onto her own face.

“Lena.”

“It’s nice to meet you Lena, I’ve heard a lot about you from Kara.”

“Oh, well…”

“Good things,” Eliza laughs and places a hand on Lena’s arm, exactly the same way Alex had done outside only a few moments before. Eliza doesn’t look surprised or pull away. She squeezes Lena’s arm gently and smiles. “I’m glad you came,” she says genuinely, then slips back over towards the couch.

Kara’s been busying herself with making cookies, but Lena knows that she was listening to the entire conversation, brief though it was.

“So,” Lena smooths down her hair a bit and turns back to Kara. “That’s your mother.”

“Foster mother,” Kara nods happily, holding out a wooden spoon to Lena. “Want to help?”

“Bake cookies?” Lena frowns down at the batter.

“Yes?” Kara looks down as well, then back up at Lena. “I mean, you don’t have to…”

“No, I – I just haven’t done it before. You’ll have to tell me what to do.”

Kara’s eyes widen. “You’ve _never_ baked cookies before?” she gapes. Lena shrugs and accepts the spoon. The Luthors had cooks. Lillian never baked a single thing a day in her life. Lena went from cooks at home, to cooks at boarding school, to takeout in college. She lives entirely on takeout now, even if she had the time to learn to cook, she’s not sure that she would. Cooking meals for just herself seems… sad somehow.

“Oh,” Kara frowns at her, seemingly understanding something from the look on Lena’s face. She stiffens involuntarily and Kara’s entire demeanor shifts. Grinning, she twirls another spoon in the air. “Well then, I’m about to rock your world Lena Luthor,” Kara jokes.

Lena swallows thickly, hoping that the blush she feels creeping onto her face isn’t particularly visible. Kara clearly meant the remark innocently, from the way that she starts shuffling things around, directing Lena to stir this, and toss in that for the next half hour. They mostly make small talk, but it doesn’t feel mindless. They’re trivial questions that Kara seems to genuinely want the answers to. When _Max?_ comes over to ask if he can help, a look on his face that Lena is far too familiar with that he directs towards Kara, Lena bristles. Thankfully, Winn walks over, slings his arm around Mason’s shoulders and pulls him away. When he turns around, giving Kara a wink and a laugh Lena clenches her jaw.

“Does this taste good?” Kara asks, holding a spoon out to Lena.

“Um,” Lena tastes it somewhat warily, then makes a noise she’s embarrassed by. Kara’s fidgets with her glasses and a blush appears on her cheeks. Lena’s less embarrassed. “Yes,” she purrs. “It’s delicious.” The blush on Kara’s face deepens.

“Great!” she says, voice pitched just a bit too high.

Less and less embarrassed by the second.

“So, Alex tells me that you’re not big on Christmas,” Lena says a few minutes later. “Why all the cookies then?”

“Oh,” Kara fidgets with her glasses again. A sight that Lena is becoming increasingly familiar with. She hits the dough a little too hard and flour goes flying into her face. She coughs a bit and wipes at it, sheepishly looking over at Lena. Lena merely smiles back at her and picks a bit of flour out of her hair. “Well, we didn’t celebrate it where I came fro—with my parents. My parents didn’t celebrate Christmas,” Kara shrugs as she places a tray of cookies into the oven. “So, I just… didn’t grow up with it. I like the food,” she grins and Lena laughs. She has never met anyone with an appetite like Kara Danvers who _looks_ like Kara Danvers. “And I love the… aesthetic of it? I guess. Fairy lights, and hot coco, and yule logs and such. And obviously, I love the whole, be kind to one another thing that comes with this time of year. And, who doesn’t like presents?” she jokes.

Kara fidgets with her glasses again, taking them off and rubbing them on her apron to get the last of the flour off. It’s the first time that Lena can remember seeing her without her glasses, and for just a second there’s… _something,_ but then Kara puts them back on and grins at Lena and she shakes it off. Ridiculous.

“We did something kind of similar to some pagan rituals for the winter solstice when I grew up. With candles, and lights, and sort of alters and stuff,” Kara shrugs. “I don’t hate it, it’s just… not really my holiday.” Kara rests a hand on the counter, leaning down a little and she smiles. “Jeremiah loved it. And, Alex sometimes hates it now because of that reminder, but she used to love it. And she _wants_ to love it. So, we always still celebrate it. And Eliza’s not religious, but we usually do Passover with her sisters, and Chanukah by ourselves. But, none of them are really my holidays. I’m usually just there for the food,” she jokes and takes a bite from one of the cookies they’ve already made. Melted chocolate gets stuck on the corner of her lip and Lena sucks in a breath.

“You’ve got,” she motions lamely towards her mouth.

Kara laughs and swipes at her face. “Thanks.” She offers Lena a cookie and motions for her to take a seat on one of the stools. “What about you?”

Lena picks at the cookie in her hands. A bitter laugh escapes her. “I’m about as WASP-y as you can get. We had lavish Christmas parties every year. Charity events and such. Everyone dressed to the nines,” she pops a small piece of the cookie into her mouth and meets Kara’s eye. “Nothing particularly pleasant for children. Especially not loud or messy ones,” she’s saying it before she can stop herself, the memories too potent. “Lex and I would spend the evening making up games to keep ourselves entertained. We’d sort people into Hogwarts houses, or make up lavish backstories for random people and see who’s was better. Or we’d see how many times we could force the adults to say a certain word, and whomever got the most points won the biggest cookie from the batch our cook made each year,” Lena swallows roughly, and sets the remains of the cookie in her hands down onto the table. Her whole body feels too hot and too cold all at once. “I…” she grips at the edges of the stool. “Where’s your bathroom?”

“It’s right down that hall,” Kara points, looking pained. “Lena—” she reaches for her, but Lena jumps back so forcefully that she knocks her stool over. Only Kara’s quick reflexes stop it from crashing to the floor.

“I’m fine,” Lena insists, and bolts for the bathroom.

She doesn’t splash water onto her face. People in movies do that. In reality, it would ruin her makeup. Lena does pinch at her cheeks. She stares at herself in the mirror until she doesn’t look pale enough to pass out, her knuckles griping Kara’s countertop far too tightly the entire time. _God,_ she hasn’t thought about Lex in weeks. Almost a new record. She hates herself, for missing him. The brother that she knew and loved is _gone,_ in all the ways that matter.  

Now, for all intents and purposes her mother is gone too. And that one, that one is all on Lena.

Coming here was idiotic. Lena can’t sit here and enjoy herself with Kara looking at her like… with her _family,_ and her friends, and act like Lena somehow _belongs_ here. She doesn’t. And the fact that she _wants_ to, is so much more dangerous and stupid than missing Lex. The only outcome of this is that Lena gets her heart broken, again.

Knuckles rap lightly against the door. “Lena?” Kara calls out hesitantly.

“Just a minute,” Lena calls. She squares her shoulders and makes the decision to leave. Then she opens the door and is nearly bowled over by the warm and concerned look on Kara’s face. She’s not going anywhere. Not with Kara looking at her like that.

_Fuck._

“Maggie’s here,” Kara says. “Detective Sawyer – Maggie. She is Alex’s girlfriend.”

“I know.”

Kara blinks up at her with surprise. “Oh… how…”

“Alex told me before we got here,” Lena explains.

“Oh,” Kara smiles to herself, turning and looking down the hall proudly. “Good.”

And _oh_ Lena would give almost anything to have someone look at her like that. When Kara turns around, the remains of it directed at Lena, her knees shake, just a little. Fuck, she has to get out of here. “Kara, thank you for inviting me but—”

“Oh no,” Kara reaches out and loops her arm with Lena’s, gently tugging her down the hall and back towards everyone. “No way, you don’t get to make some work excuse and leave. Besides,” she grins at Lena. “Eliza’s going to be very inquisitive and annoying, Alex is going to need more backup than just me.”

“I—”

“Also, Winn has Christmas karaoke.”

Lena freezes. “I’m _not_ singing,” she says firmly. “I cannot carry a tune.”

Kara laughs. “No one will force you to sing,” she promises. “But Winn and I have a competition going, and we’ll definitely be singing our asses off. Plus! You can’t leave before I give you your present.”

Lena sucks in a stinging breath and stares over at Kara. “I… didn’t bring any presents,” she admits. The idea should have occurred to her, but she hasn’t exchanged anything apart from generic cards, money, or favors in years. Except with Lex. The two of them exchange books, every year, without fail.

Except for this year. With Lex in jail, and him sending people to execute her.

“That’s fine Lena,” Kara says, seeming sincere. “Mine’s honestly not much. But, please stay?” she bites at her lower lip, looking suddenly very young. Something inside of Lena’s chest clenches painfully, and then she hears Alex’s _incredibly_ awkward and high pitched laugh ring out. Lena and Kara both turn at the sound, and without saying anything else, Lena nods. The Danvers sisters clearly need help. Kara lets out a breath of relief and the two of them quickly make their way into the living room.

Alex is still laughing, and there’s a distressed choked sound to it. Everyone in the room is looking at her with concern. The woman beside her—Maggie, Lena presumes—reaches out and tries to rub her back, but Alex flinches away from her touch. Kara is by her side in half a second, smiling at everyone and grabbing Alex’s arm and asking for help with the cookies. She catches Lena’s eye and nods towards Maggie, pleading. Lena sighs, if there is anything that she’s used to, it’s diffusing tension in awkward familial or public situations. She slides herself into the mass of bodies, introducing herself to Maggie, and quickly shifting the conversation. Kara and Alex are back only a few minutes later, and Alex settles herself down onto the couch as close to Maggie as she can get without actually being in her lap. Lena watches as Maggie rolls her eyes and squeezes Alex’s knee—stopping whatever apology Alex had been about to burst out with. Eliza watches the two of them fondly, and Lena’s throat tightens. Lillian had been less than enthused when she found Lena on Veronica Sinclair’s lap in their den when she was fourteen. That type fondness on Eliza’s face, has never once been directed Lena’s way, not that she can remember.

(The closest that she’d come was Thanksgiving; the key to a bomb passed from mother’s hands to daughter’s, spitting out _‘I’m a Luthor’_ at Supergirl, and watching the pride seep out of Lillian.

But, _that’s_ certainly never going to happen again.)

…

…

Lena is quiet throughout the meal. The food is delicious and messy. The presentation of the Danvers’ table would never be allowed in the Luthor mansion, and Lena finds that almost makes it all the more delectable.

The fact that she’s just… accepted as a presence in this room by basically everyone without a second thought is, confusing, to say the least. James Olsen looks at her a little warily, but Lena is aware of his relationship to Superman, so that’s not surprising at all. J’onn—an _alien,_ an honest to god _Martian,_ which, she still can’t quite believe—is stiff and polite but keeps his distance. Which, Lena is a bit grateful for. She watched him turn into a huge green being on the news months ago just like the rest of the world. And she doesn’t know quite what to make of the man who works so closely with Supergirl—tonight doesn’t really seem like the night to find out. Through a few quick and intense whispers, Kara informs her that Alex has worked with him for years, before they knew, and he’s something of a mentor to her. She looks… worried about Lena’s reaction as she fiddles with her glasses and tells Lena that Maggie works with the Science Police, and regularly deals with aliens as well.

Lena is fully aware of Kara’s stance on aliens. She’s still… sort of figuring out her own, but it’s clear that everyone in this room is Pro-Alien. Lena simply takes a bite of her green bean casserole and sips at her water. “Okay,” she says with a small smile and Kara relaxes.

Winn, is the man who rolled underneath Lena’s table and helped her get the black body field generator working at her party. He’s awkward, and fumbly, and charming in a way that should almost be annoying, but isn’t. Other than Kara, he’s the easiest for her to talk to, and she spends half of the dinner talking to him about different L-Corp gadgets and prototypes. Eliza chimes in excitedly throughout their conversation, and Lena learns that Kara’s foster mother is something of a genius. She has no idea how to talk to the woman as Kara’s parent, but as a scientist, it’s almost too easy.

It also proves to be the thing that _finally_ allows Alex to relax. And now that Lena knows Alex is a Bio-Engineer, and has listened to her argue with Winn and her mother about different theories for the last five minutes, Lena is suddenly very serious about her offer to trade notes some time.

By the time that they’ve finished eating, and moved back into the living room, Lena feels almost comfortable.

It’s not a lasting feeling. She knows better.

Kara jumps from person to person, shoving a tray of cookies in everyone’s face, and Marcus—Milo? Lena still doesn’t know; no one seems to address him directly—reaches out and wraps an arm around Kara’s waist when she offers one to him. Kara stiffens under his touch, and he grins at her, totally unaware of the forced smile etching out onto her face.

“Lena!” she calls out, too loudly. “Did you get a cookie?” she all but leaps away from Marty, and now James and Alex have both taken notice, matching frowns etching out onto their faces. Kara ignores them all, wincing at the hurt look on Mitch’s face, and tossing him another cookie. He catches it and tries to smile back at her, but it doesn’t quite work. Kara looks half ready to move back over and let him… _what_ Lena doesn’t know, but then Alex clears her throat pointedly.

“ _I_ didn’t get one,” she says. “And I’m the one who went out and got your damn sugar for you.”

“Technically Lena got it,” Kara says, smiling back at Lena and throwing a cookie at her sister’s head. Eliza chastises her without even looking up from her conversation with J’onn.

“Technically, _I_ went and got Lena, who had the sugar,” Alex snags another cookie off the tray. “Team effort,” she winks over at Lena, just on the side of tipsy. Kara takes her wine glass away, locking eyes with Lena and making a face. Lena covers her mouth to keep from laughing, and then to keep herself from sucking in an audible breath when Kara squeezes her shoulder as she walks past her into the kitchen.

“Okay!” Kara claps her hands after setting the wine glass down onto the counter. “Karaoke time!” she announces.

Winn cheers and jumps up from the floor. Alex groans and knocks her head into Maggie’s shoulder, who laughs and rubs her back. James chugs the rest of his wine and sits up gamely. Eliza and J’onn ignore them all, and Mike looks confused. For her part, Lena tries to make it _very clear_ to Kara that she will _not_ be participating.

“Rules! Has to be a holiday themed song!” Winn yells out happily, then pauses, looking between Kara, Alex, then James. “That’s… there’s no other rule. Right?”

“Right,” Kara declares. “Who’s first?”

“Mon and I are duet-ing!” Winn yells, hauling Miles up to his feet and hugging him. Alex isn’t the only slightly tipsy person in the room.

Kara plops herself down between Lena and Alex on the couch and cheers the boys on throughout their rendition of _Santa Claus is Coming to Town._ Winn, despite his tipsy-ness, has a beautiful voice. Merlin, not so much.

James is pulled into another duet with Winn, adding a deep, not totally terrible bass to _Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree._

Eliza and J’onn both succumb to Kara’s pleas and eventually get up and loudly, slightly off-key, belt out _Silver Bells_ before sitting down and declaring themselves audience members with Lena.

Alex is just tipsy enough to drag Maggie up, and sober enough to sing a beautiful rendition of _What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?_ with her. Lena is mostly amused by everyone’s attempts before this, but she sits there and watches Alex beaming at her girlfriend, singing beautifully, their voices mixing together in almost perfect harmony, and her limbs feel too heavy as she sneaks a glance at Kara out of the corner of her eye. Kara’s eyes at wet as she watches her sister, and she claps overenthusiastically as she jumps up to hug Alex and take her turn.

“Duet first,” she demands of Winn, holding her hand out. They turn around and spend a few seconds flipping through the catalogue and whispering at each other. Alex takes this opportunity to get Kara back and throws a cookie at her head.

“Alexandra,” Eliza says in exasperation.

“She did it first!” Alex insists. Eliza rolls her eyes.

“Okay!” Kara announces. “We’re ready. Duet, then Winn solo. Then my solo. Then you all have to vote!”

“Why are we making this a competition?” James asks.

“Because Kara won last time and I demand my revenge!” Winn yells. “Hum,” he frowns. “So, how evil did that sound? Like, on a scale of one to my dad?”

“Three,” Alex states. “If you think your pathetic weak ass is ever gonna be Toymaker levels of evil, you’re dreaming Schott. I’ve seen you in your underwear.” Lena’s eyebrows shoot up at that. Winn’s father is the Toymaker? Lena studies him for a moment, it’s an interesting bit of information. Apparently, she’s not the only person in the room with a family member who is universally hated and serving life sentences behind bars.

Winn goes beat red as Kara laughs, covering up her mouth quickly.

“Dude,” Winn hisses, covering up the microphone. “We agreed, cone of silence. Also, my shower was broken and the DEO has a perfectly good one.”

“Excuse me?” J’onn asks. Winn, Alex, and Kara all look stricken.   

“Nothing, let’s sing!” Kara says, and hits play on the machine. Everyone is immediately silent and paying attention. Lena was expecting Kara’s voice to be good, from the way everyone has all been talking, but she wasn’t fully prepared. Kara’s voice is _beautiful._ Lena can’t tear her eyes away as Kara and Winn both sing _Silent Night,_ their voices in a perfect harmony. When they hit the last note, everyone claps and Kara and Winn both give a little bow and curtsy. Kara moves to sit on the edge of the couch, near Maggie while Winn belts out _Last Christmas_ complete with a few spins and dance moves. Lena spends the entire number still staring at Kara, unable to tear her eyes away. Then, Kara jumps up, takes the microphone from him and grins at everyone.

The music lightly rings out, and Kara opens her mouth. “I don’t want a lot for Christmas, there’s just one thing I need,” she begins, and everyone cheers. The music kicks off, and Kara starts jumping around, belting her heart out as Winn, James, and Alex clap along with the beat. Lena can’t stop the ridiculous grin that is slipping out onto her face the further into the song Kara gets.

Kara starts prancing around the entire room, twirling red tinsel around in people’s faces. When she reaches Lena, she shimmies at her until Lena’s burst out laughing and claps along, Kara’s face absolutely beaming at her. When she reaches the end of the song, she sings, _and you,_ at almost everyone, flinging tinsel at them. The final lines, she switches from Mischa, to Alex, then turns and sings the final _and you_ at Lena. She drops into a deep exaggerated curtsy as the music cuts off, and everyone claps.

“Kara wins,” Alex declares and everyone agrees, much to Winn’s chagrin.

Kara squeals with delight and then unceremoniously drops back down between Alex and Lena. She has one more small handful of tinsel and shakes it in Lena’s face, lightly tickling her nose. Kara grins when Lena laughs and twists her head away.

“You’re very good,” Lena says after a beat.

Kara actually blushes. “Thank you,” she beams. “Are you having fun?”

“Yes,” Lena says, and it isn’t even a lie anymore. Kara is pressed against her, and Alex has continually made a point to include her in conversations throughout the night. Winn seems to be genuinely interested in almost everything happening at L-Corp, and Eliza keeps plying Lena with food and smiles, and questions about a new prototype that might actually work now with some of her suggestions. Lena hasn’t felt this welcomed by a group of people in a very, very long time. If ever. Certainly not at Christmas. “Thank you for inviting me,” she adds.

“I’m really glad that you came.” Kara loops their arms together for the second time tonight, except now they’re sprawled out together on the couch and it’s… close to cuddling. All of Lena’s instincts are screaming at her to _run, run far away,_ but, completely despite herself, Lena feels a smile tug at her mouth. Kara returns it, beaming so brightly at Lena that her teeth ache. “Merry Christmas Lena.”

And, _oh._

Oh, no.

Lena is done for.


End file.
